Sheet rubber



July 17, 1928. 1,677,372

B. A. RUHLING SHEET RUBBER Filed May 13, 1927 Fatente'd. duly i7,'19232o f oir. erre aan,

BERNARD A. RUHLING, F ELKHART, XNDIANA.

SHEET RUBBER.

.Application filed may 13,

. ,My invention relates to improvements in sheet rubber, and4particularly to reenforced sheet rubber. l

The object l.of my invention is to provide reenforced sheet rubber foruse in making automobile bodies, door boards, runningl boards, tops,fenders, and other parts which are now made of wood'and steel.

Another object of the invention is to pro- Il@ vide a reenforced sheetrubber for use in the manufacture of furniture u cabinets, tables andbuilding material of certain character'.

l A third obgect of the invention is to provide areenforced sheet rubberinwhich fastener members are embedded. Other objects of the inventionare mentioned and described herein.

llhe preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the'accompanying drawing wherein Figure l is a plan view' of the sheetrubberbroken away to disclose the wire netting reenforcing elementembedded thereinfandl the fastener members; Fig. 2 is a section taken online 2-2 'of Fig.

l; Fig. 3 is a section taken on line 3 3 of IFi 1; Fig. 4 is a sectiontaken on line 4 4 of ig. 3; and Fig. 5 -is a view ofone of the fastenermembers.

Similar numerals -of 'reference indicate like 3o parts throughoutthe-several views on, the

drawing y e lt is well known that steel and wood when used in motor,cars are. objectionable on account of the rapid wear and 'deteriorationthereof, and that they intensify sounds due to vibration. My improvedrubber sheet,

' when used for door boards, running boards,

i and other suitable parts in a motor car, be-

come very desirable and most durable, for

40 they will not rattle, rust, corrode, rot or decay. They readilyabsorb noi-ses and fac1l1- tate the cleaning or washing of the carparts. `Moreover, rugs and carpets may be wholly. dispensed with when myimproved reenlforced sheet rubber is-used as a floor board or covering.l

' Referring to the detalls of the drawing the numeral l indicates a planview of my 'improved sheet rubber in which the reen- 0` forcing wirenetting 2 is embedded, the lat- 1927. serieu no. 191,234.

which are lthen rolled to the desired thickness and vulcanized to thedesired .consistvency, eitlier in` a mold, or otherwise in any suitablemanner.

For certain uses or purposes one side of the sheet, 3 for example, maybe vulcanized softer than the opposite side 4, which would reduce 'thenoise of falling objects, car vibration, &c. In other cases a pluralityof fastener members 5 may be embedded in the sheet whenvbeingvulcanized, to enable its lattachment to surrounding objects, brackets,

or other supporting elements. Such a fastener member may take the formof a headed stud 5 provided with a polygonal shank@ and a screw threadedsection 7, the former being embedded in the rubber sheet and within thepolygonal interstice 8 of the netting 2 to hold the stud againstrotation, and

the latter projecting to the sheet exterior to receive anut 9.

lin cash a very heavy Wire netting 2, or any metalreenforcing element,is used, some of the ends thereof may be extended to the exterior of thesheet end or side and screw threaded to take a nut, to function asfastener members. As illustrated,'the head of the stud 5 isinvisiblefrom one -side of the rubber sheet, which side may serve as the` .upperor outer side of the sheet when in use, y

being the exposedside thereof.

l claim;v '-1. As a new article of manufacture, 'a

solid sheet of rubber having wire netting embedded in its interior-andprovided with polygonal interstices, and a fastener member embeddedinsaid sheet of rubber and projecting to the exterior thereof, saidfastener member having a polygonal shank engaging in one 'of the nettinginterstices.

2. AAs a new article of manufacture, a solid sheet of rubber having ametal reenforcing element embedded therein, said reenforcing elementbeing provided-with a apertures in vsaid reenforcing element, and

plurality of apertures some of which are of each of said fastenermembers having its free polygonal formation, and a plurality ofasendserew threaded.

tener members having one end embedded in In witness whereof I havehereunto 5 the rubber sheet, each of said fastener memaffixed mysignature this 11th day of May,

. bers bein provided withv a polygonal seo- 1927. tion whic engages oneof libe polygonal" BERNARD A. RUHLING.

